Drawing: Eva Le Roi. Part of the project "Architecture of Fulfilment" by Behemoth.

Big what?

Notes from the field

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a 2015 manifesto

The day we knew would arrive is here: we have reached the age of access, the experience matters more than the object. Soon, prophets say, a golden age of sharing will be upon us ushered in by the promises of big data, connected objects and an emerging new way of thinking.

The network opens every door and, it is true, does not ask for much in return: log in, feed it, send out instant messages and project your “identity”, which will soon dissolve into the meganet. But, carried by their own momentum, the fundamentals of smart models are no longer questioned. And abbreviated-aggregated individuals, as we know, are oversimplified silhouettes of what they really are. Data alone, big or otherwise, is not enough.

Our behaviour patterns differ, change and contradict themselves, because we are alive. Harvesting encoded facts and vice-versa is not enough to grasp complexity. The key is to soak oneself in the emotions, obsessions and reasons of the subject, to question, be unsettled, engage.That is what we do at Méthos, it is our calling as ethnographers and will be our manifesto for Year 15.